BSRYAK

The surrounding wall crumbled as I saw Scott, Axel, and Joshua effortlessly soar over the debris, the air thick with the grit of their fight against Kotaro.

Scott's exhaustion made him careless, causing him to fail to notice Kotaro preparing a backstab.

Joshua's sudden and piercing shout echoed through the hallway, jolting Scott into awareness.

"WATCH YOUR BACK, DEADWEIGHT!!!"

As Kotaro raised his Katana to stab Scott in the back, Axel swooped in to intervene, clashing his hammer into Kotaro's, sending sparks flying. He sent a chastisement over his shoulder to Scott.

"SCOTT, DON'T JUST STAND HERE LIKE A FREAKING DEADWEIGHT!!!"

Scott moaned in frustration as he hoisted himself to his feet, his greatsword dangling limply in his hands.

"COME ON BRO, I'M EXHAUSTED LIKE HELL!!!"

Kotaro quickly dodged Axel's threatening hammer swing and shouted a threatening statement in a raspy robotic voice.

"You, Authonoids, must die!"

Kotaro dashed ahead at full speed to meet Axel and Scott with his blade. They tried to halt it, but their heavy weaponry weighed their efforts for a parry. In a split second, Joshua lunged forward with lightning speed, delivering a powerful kick to Kotaro's waist, effectively saving their lives.

BOK

After threatening us with his blazing gaze, he retreated from his position with conviction.

"Foolish Authonoids! You think you can defeat me with my motivation?!"

His warning was about as credible as throwing a damp paper bag, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony. So I ridiculed him by giving him the downward middle finger.

"Heh! Motivation for your small dick!"

As he answered mockingly, Kotaro's evil cackle echoed through the room.

"Are you still able to talk big even when you're about to lose?"

But Joshua suddenly sprang up in my side as he joined the mocking in a low but sharp tone.

"Who knows? Maybe you will eat your own shit instead!"

I clenched the Nakajima's grip with my right hand as I cranked the throttle three times to make a resounding show of power.

BRAAAAAAP BRAAAAAAP BRAAAAAAP

Kotaro's eyes blazed with motivation as he took a more combative posture and asserted at us.

"Fine! All of you might be my most formidable opponent. And our battle shall be legendary!"

All of us got into formation, worked hard on our fighting stances, and were ready to fight.

Kotaro tightened his grip on his Katana, readying himself for an assault, and suddenly, he charged towards us with lightning speed.

SHING

Insert Music: Ling Tosite Sigure - Souzou No Security

Luckily, I've avoided his sword thrust while returning fire with resounding blasts from my Kiryu.

BANG BANG BANG

Like a professional swordsmachine, he dodged and deflected my shots as I charged at him with my blade, hoping for even a little opening to strike.

Unlike the relatively easy conflicts we had with the first two infected androids, this one was far more difficult to defeat. Despite the difficulties, my friends supported me throughout the whole process of fending off his assault.

Axel slammed the hammer down on Kotaro's back with all his might as the wind brutally reached him. Christine fiercely thrust her Lancer through the air, creating a deafening swooshing noise that reverberated through the room. Joshua fires his dual pistols, sending empty shells crashing to the ground. Veronica unleashed a tremendous whoosh as she swept her dual blades across the air.

No matter how hard we tried, the infected android easily avoided our strikes, and I could feel my strength erode as he continued to mess with us.

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Despite the hardship, I felt a rush of inspiration. My plan was to blind Kotaro with the flashbang light and then surprise-attack him. Kotaro's greatest tactical weakness is that bright light easily throws him off balance.

When I went into my pocket to check whether any grenades were still there, all I felt was mere emptiness. With Kotaro's Katana swinging dangerously close, I asked around.

"Anyone got flashbangs?"

Steel on steel resounded through the air as Christine shouted while parried Kotaro's Katana.

"I DO!"

She made a backwards sprint and pulled a flashbang out of her purse. She unpinned it and yelled as she tossed the flashbang at Kotaro's face.

"WATCH YOUR EYES!"

The flashbang detonated in midair, blinding Kotaro's vision as it came within an inch of his face.

BANG

Kotaro's vision blurred for a moment, and he had to shut his eyes to clear them. And we seized the moment, rushing forward with vigor.

Axel smacked Kotaro about the waist with his hammer and threw his body toward Scott. Next, Scott slashed Kotaro's torso viciously with his greatsword, causing massive amounts of blood and oil to spray to the floor.

JSLOSH

With a resounding thud from the might of his greatsword, he slammed Kotaro's body to the ground.

BSRYAK

When Kotaro collapsed to the ground, Scott was ready to end his life with a single mighty swipe of his greatsword.

"HAAAAAAA!!! TAKE… THIS!!!"

But just as Scott was feeling confident, Kotaro sneered, his mocking laughter filling the surrounding area.

"How foolish!"

Despite the serious wounds he had sustained, the infected android was back on his feet in an instant, and the sound of his katana scraping against Scott's greatsword rang out as he charged Scott with every ounce of power he had left.

He didn't realize that Christine, Veronica, and I were ready to collaborate while his attention was on Scott.

Scott made a mocking face when he saw what we were about to do.

"No, you are the one who's a fool!"

But Kotaro would not back down, and he pushed Scott's hulking greatsword away with a modest thrust of his katana.

"Oh, you think so?!"

With a sly smirk on his lips, Scott cast a sidelong look our way as he gritted his greatsword against Kotaro's Katana.

"Yeah! I will make you think so."

Without wasting any more time, Christine and I made a simultaneous leap forward and stabbed him in the back.

JSHICK JSHICK

The agony became too great for Kotaro as we revved our blades, and we heard the splattering of blood and oil as our motorized blade charred his inner frame.

Once we were certain that Kotaro had taken enough damage, we withdrew our swords so forcefully that the gaping sores in his body spat fire.

"IMBECILES!!!"

Kotaro's roaring shouts resounded through the air, and it was clear that he was still fighting despite his wounds. But Veronica suddenly dashed into his sight, her hair flying behind her.

She instantly kicked Kotaro's crotch, sending him flying. And just as he floated in midair before he fell, she leaped and slashed Kotaro's body as quickly as she could with her dual blades.

Her agility was so high that even the most nimble of humans would have trouble keeping up with her. Moreover, she psychotically laughed as she slashed Kotaro's torso in midair, leaving a trail of blood and oils on the floor like a cold-blooded killer.

The words she spat after her brutality were pretty badass, we had to admit.

"Yes… yes… yes… YES…"

"Die, die, die, FUCKING DIE!!!"

Kotaro yelled out in pain, and the echo of his voice echoed through the room. But Veronica's neck-breaking slashes overwhelmed him, wretched Kotaro in her slaughter.

When she had finished slashing Kotaro, she kicked his corpse to the floor and suddenly witnessed that Scott struck an engagement pose before slashing Kotaro to death.

When Kotaro's body was about to hit Scott's face by a mere distance of a few meters, he swung his hulking greatsword in a split second.

And all of a sudden...

JSLOSH

The blood and oils from Kotaro's corpse splashed upon Scott's body and soaked into the floor after he slashed it in half.

Even though he's usually goofy, there was something about the move that betrayed his typical goofiness. With a swift motion, he slashed through the blood, releasing a sigh of relief before elegantly sheathing the sword behind his back.

"That feels wonderful!"

Drained from the intense battle with the three infected androids, we crumpled onto the icy tiles, the cold seeping into our exhausted bodies and sending shivers down our spines. Christine let out a muffled sigh of relief as she finally found a comfortable sitting position on the cold, hard ground, her muscles aching from the intense battle.

"Well, that was surely something else. Despite the difficulty, we were so grateful we've slayed these three arduous infected androids."

Veronica patted Christine's right shoulder as she gently laughed with assurance.

"For sure. Before I knew it, I had lost control of myself."

After Joshua fixed his tuxedo, he gave Veronica a scornful glare as his ultramarine eyes flashed with a quiet wrath.

"No wonder you should stay in the asylum. Deranged hyena..."

The combination of our sheer luck, relentless efforts, and impeccable coordination had finally paid off, leading us to erupt in joyous laughter at our hard-earned victory.

We stopped to make up for our downtime in the middle of the warehouse. But from out of the darkness, a mysterious person emerged as he spoke in a tone of sadness that echoed around the room.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

We instinctively took a startled step back, our hearts racing with a mix of fear and curiosity. But after just a few seconds, the ominous figure suddenly emerged from the darkness.

He was wearing a dark red fedora hat and a long black hooded coat, but as he stood there, it showcased his gray hair with black accents and heterochromia eyes, one red and one yellow.

He possesses two enormous butcher blades on his back and a revolver in a holster on his right thigh, with extra ammunition in a leather belt pouch. His presence may strike fear in the hearts of others, but all I saw was scum in a fake leather cowboy outfit.

The ominous man then continued with a slow, menacing gait.

"Your one and only nightmare. Florent, the Fireblade."

The infamous assassin Florent, known for his hellish flame and psychotic temperament, sent shivers down our spines as he ominously approached us with an aura of menace.

Florent was the most lethal assassin in the Crescent because of his fire element and his psychotic temperament, which left a path of carnage in his wake. It was rumored that Florent was Onigashi's closest companion, and he slaughtered the five most dreaded wanted mercenaries. This was not due to his desire for a bounty, but rather to satisfy his intense psychoticism.

My temper scorched like all seven hells, fueled by this guy's sadistic taunts that grate on my last nerve.